What happened at Waco?

The "Why Waco?" section of Mark Swett's web site (http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/ww.html ) gives an excellent account of what happened at the Waco siege.

It is quite clear from the evidence provided that the FBI totally failed to understand what Koresh was doing and what his purposes were. When the siege started Koresh believed this must be related to the Fifth Seal of Revelation in some way, which is the last major event before the end of the world. In the Fifth Seal some of the faithful are killed, then there is a short time, then the rest of the faithful die and the world ends. Koresh believed the six killed at the beginning of the siege showed the Fifth Seal had started, but he was confused as he did not expect the Fifth Seal until 1995, and he expected it in Jerusalem, not Waco. Hence he decided to wait for a message from God to explain what was happening.

Throughout the siege Koresh simply said he was waiting for a message from God. He did not lie about coming out. The FBI claims Koresh said he was coming out after the Passover and he lied, however the question put to him was "are you coming out before or after the Passover?" to which he replied "after, obviously" - the FBI for some reason took this to be a promise to come out immediately after, which is not what he said. On the basis of this they said Koresh had repeatly lied about coming out, which was not true.

The FBI had no understanding of the Bible or Koresh's references. They did not know Koresh believed he was living in the Fifth Seal, or understand any of his Bible quotes - which explained further what he understood was happening. Koresh repeatly asked to speak to people who understood the Bible, but this was denied.

Eventually two Biblical scholars were able to communicate with Koresh and they argued for him to write his message in a book to the world. They showed his was consistent with the Fifth Seal. Amazingly the scholars caused the "breakthrough" - after weeks of waiting Koresh finally had a message from God. He would write his book, and come out. Tragically this happened only days before the FBI went in and killed all but nine of those inside including so many children. Why? The message from God he had been waiting for had at last arrived! Why did they not realise the importance of this? Sadly the FBI did not understand what had happened. They thought Koresh was lying about the book, or was not serious about writing it. There is plenty of evidence to show that he was serious - he wrote up the First Seal immediately and was working night and day. It is estimated he would have finished the book in 10 days. The manuscript and computer disks of what he had written so far survived the fire.

All the evidence shows the FBI were unable to follow what was happening, all they wanted to do was go in with guns blazing. They didn't understand Koresh, what he taught, what those with him believed, why they were there, what they thought the siege meant or how they would react to cutting off electricity, playing loud music, shining lights all night and so on.

To those who say, why didn't Koresh just surrender and leave, they - like the FBI - don't understand the religous world-view of Koresh. He obeyed God rather than man. Unless God told him to walk out, he wouldn't walk out. That was a fact the FBI couldn't deal with.

To anyone still not sure if the Branch Davidians deserved what they got, consider this statistic. There are 130 Branch Davidians recorded in the "Why Waco" site. Over 40 were children.

Now find out more.

Why Waco?

http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/ww.html

David Koresh

The David Koresh Manuscript:Exposition of the Seven Seals
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/manuscript.html

Commentary on the Koresh Manuscript by Dr. James Tabor and Dr. Phillip Arnold
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/commentary.html

David Koresh' Worldwide Radio Address March 2,1993
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/march2.html

Did David Koresh Lie To The FBI?
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/lie.html

David Koresh and Janet Reno - The Surrender Plan
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/ag.html

Branch Davidians

Total List of Texas Branch Davidians
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/total.bd.html

Breakdown of Branch Davidians
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/davidians.html

James Tabor

The Role of Biblical Scholarship at Waco:One Attempt to Avert Disaster
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/ashes.html

Statement to the House Investigation Committie on Waco
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/statement.html

Waco

Events at Waco: An Interpretive Log
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/logofevents.html

The FBI
David Koresh and the FBI's Religious Intolerance
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/religious.html

The Last Five Days
http://home.maine.rr.com/waco/last.html


John Mann

Branch Davidian Home Page